Karachi Police arrest MQM activist

KARACHI: Karachi police chief Shahid Hayat has said a man suspected of involvement in the killing of Naimat Ali Randhawa, a lawyer involved in the Wali Babar murder case, has been arrested on Tuesday.

Speaking to a press conference, Hayat named the suspect as one Kazim Abbasi Rizvi and said he was associated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Unit 178.

The senior lawyer was shot dead in an attack in the city’s Nazimabad area on Thursday that also left his lawyer son injured. Hayat was asked whether Randhawa’s killing had a sectarian dimension, responding to which, the police chief said the lawyer’s killing was of a political, not sectarian, nature.

Meanwhile, rejecting Hayat’s claim, MQM leader Senator Haider Abbas Rizvi has demanded for an impartial probe into the ‘allegations.’ The revelation came in the wake of yet another row between the MQM, and the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in Sindh over an operation that has seen a former MQM lawmaker and activists being arrested.

The MQM has dubbed the operation as one-sided action against its office bearers.

Wali Khan Babar, a journalist who worked for a private television channel, was gunned down in January 2011 in Liaquatabad area of the port city.

Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah had recently told a press conference that one of the witnesses in the Babar murder case was still alive and was being given ample security.

Karachi, a sprawling port city on the Arabian Sea and economic hub of Pakistan, has long been beset by religious, sectarian and ethnic strife. Here armed wings of political parties battle for control of the city, Sunnis and Shias die in tit-for-tat sectarian killings, and Taliban gunmen attack banks and kill police officers.

Meanwhile, Rangers in the city say they have seized Indian-origin ammunition from political party MQM’s office in Landhi sector. It has been further said that the ammo is the exact make which is also used byJundullah and the TTP.